2010 National English Centest for College

Students (Level B - Sample)

Part I Listening Comprehension

 

Section A

In this section, you will hear five short conversations. Each conversation will be read only once. At the end of each conversation, there will be a twenty-second pause. During the pause, read the question and the three choices marked A, B and C, and decide which is the best answer.

 

1. M: I’m so sorry I’m late, Jane.

   W: Where have you been? I’ve been waiting for ages.

   M: But it’s not my fault. I’ve been stuck in a traffic jam for

        the last two hours.

2. W: Would it be all right if I left for a minute? I have to

         make a phone call.

   M: I’d rather you didn’t - the thing is, this is a very impor-

        tant part of the lesson.

   W: I see. OK.

3. W: Hi, Andrew.

   M: Hello, Wendy! Are you waiting for the London train?

   W: No, I’m meeting my mother off the train from Bristol.

4. M: Hello. This is Roy Whitely speaking and it’s about the

        workshops in January.

   W: Oh, yes. I know the ones you mean.

   M: Well, we’re finding it difficult to get a venue for the 16th and I wonder if you would be happy if we changed it to

        the 27th instead?

   W: Oh, I see. Well, I’ll have to check my diary and get back        to you.

5. M: Good morning, Phyllis, could we have a word in my of-

        fice?

   W: Of course.

   M: I’m sorry to have to say this, but I’m afraid you failed to achieve high enough sales to earn a bonus this month.

 

Section B

 

In this section, you will hear two interviews. Each interview will be read only once. At the end of each interview, there will be a pause. During the pause, read the five questions, each with three choices marked A, B and C, and decide which is the best answer.

 

Interview One

Interviewer: Good morning, everyone. Well, in the studio today we have Steve Jackson who’s going to tell us about his recent trip to the Antarctic. So, Steve, what was it like? Did you freeze?

Steve: No, I didn’t. The temperature was about seven degrees most days and I must say I found it quite comfortable. You should take warm clothes though and you really need a good windproof coat.

Interviewer: Now, tell us a bit about the ship you were on.

Steve: It was called the Explorer, and it was built only three years ago. The cabins are very small and at first I did wonder where I was going to put all my stuff. However, whoever designed the ship thought of just about everything  a  passenger  would  need and I eventually found      plenty of cupboard space under the bed.

Interviewer: What were the other passengers like?

Steve: Oh, the atmosphere on board between the passengers was really great. The crew really tried to get everyone to mix. I was invited to eat with the expedition leader, who was American, on the first night, and then after that I sat at a different table for dinner every night, but you don’t have to if you don’t feel like it.

Interviewer: Did you get seasick at all?

Steve: Some of the passengers did—the weather can be stormy in the Antarctic. Of course there is a doctor on board and he gave anyone who needed it an injection for seasickness. Luckily, I didn’t need one and the others got over it pretty quickly once they’d had the injection.

Interviewer: Well, thank you for telling us about your trip,

                 Steve. Now next ...

 

Interview Two

Presenter: So, Hannah, what was it like growing up in Hollywood  as  an  only child, and having such a famous             mother?

Hannah: Well, I guess I was pretty privileged as I had things most other kids only dream about. For instance, when I was 14 I just loved Harrison Ford films, and my mother arranged for me and a few friends to go to the film set to see him working on his lastest film, as a treat for my birthday. I don’t think I was particularly spoilt though, even though I was an only child, and I didn’t get into trouble like some of the kids I knew did.

Presenter: You, yourself, are an actress now. Did she ever try to put you off acting?

Hannah: No at all, just the opposite. She felt I should follow my feelings, I guess in the same way she had done when she was younger. My grandparents hadn’t wanted her to take up acting you know, especially as she had to move from Europe to Hollywood. I don’t think her family took her seriously at first and I think she was quite homesick and felt she could have done with a little more family support.

Presenter: Now, you look very like your mother, don’t you?

Hannah: Oh, yes. My mouth, the shape of my face, my jaw line is my mother’s. My nose too, but only the tip of it, not the bridge—that is unique, like no one else’s in the family. My eyes, my forehead, my colouring, my height are different from my mother’s but everyone tells me I look like her. When I say everybody, I mean everybody. People stop me in shops, on the subway, in the street.

Presenter: What does your mother say about this?

Hannah: Well, we both looked in the mirror one day and came to the same conclusion—people exaggerate. Then one day I went into a dress shop. I was alone except for another customer. I thought to myself, ‘She looks like my mother.’ Then I walked too close to her and crashed into a mirror-the lady was me! I hadn’t recognised myself!

Presenter: What qualities do you think your mother possesses?

Hannah: Great physical energy. She used to walk fast, and when she wasn’t acting she cleaned and organised the house perfectly. She loved acting more than cleaning; she loved acting most and above all. It took me some time not to feel hurt by this. I wanted to come first. When asked what was the most important thing in her life, she got real embarrassed and nervous, but my mother couldn’t lie; she had to say‘acting’; though I know for our sake she wished she could say ‘family’. She is terribly practical, and I am, too. We consider it one of the greatest qualities in people. We  give it the same status as intelligence. Practicality is what made my mother advises me to learn to be an accountant. ‘If you know how to do it, you know you’ll never be cheated out of any money,’ she says. I didn’t finish the course as I decided I wanted to act.

Presenter: Thank you for coming today and talking to us, Hannah, and good luck in your new film which, I believe, is released on Tuesday?

Hannah: Yes, that’s right. Thank you.

 

Section C

In this section, you will hear five short news items. Each item will be read only once. After each item, there will be a pause. During the pause, read the question and the three choices marked A, B and C, and decide which is the best answer.

 

16. (an announcer) “Let’s give a big welcome to the Dream Allstars’ Destiny.” It is an exciting moment for the girls. These girls may not perform perfect cheerleading moves, but it is a proud moment for them. They are Destiny, a team of cheerleaders with special needs (disabilities). The girls, age seven to fifteen, are cheering at their first major sports event—a college basketball game at George Mason University in Virginia.

17. James Castrission and Justin Jones enjoyed a heroes’ welcome at the end of their  long voyage. They have become the first kayakers to conquer the Tasman Sea. Sixty-two days after setting off from the Australian east coast, they paddled to shore near the town of Taranaki in New Zealand. Three thousand well-wishers awaited them. A fleet of indigenous Maori canoes escorted them into shore, while on land a band played Waltzing Matilda, a popular Australian folk song.

18. The new study says some 65,000 African-born physicians and 70,000 African-born professional nurses were working overseas in developed countries by the year 2000. It says this represents about one in five African-born physicians and about one-tenth of African-born professional nurses.  According to the British government, more than 17,000 doctors and nurses from Africa were recruited in 2007 to work in Britain. 

19. He is one of the faces that viewers see again and again in different programs and movies.  Christian Clemenson is a character actor who has played an Air Force officer, a doctor, a salesman and a priest, and dozens of other roles.  In the 2006 feature film United 93, he played real-life hero Thomas Burnett, a passenger on a jet hijacked by terrorists on September 11, 2001.  The plane crashed, killing all aboard near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.  Burnett and fellow passengers resisted the hijackers, after Burnett called his wife to explain what was happening. 

20. American Airlines said it has agreed to allow some of its jets to be used in tests of laser technology being developed to defend against missiles. Officials say the system won’t be tried out on passenger flights. A device had been placed in as many as 3 planes designed to detect heat from a rocket, which then fire a laser beam to jam the missile’s guidance system.

 

Section D

In this section, you will hear two students who want to be chosen as student representative in their college. For questions

21—30, complete the notes. You will need to write a word or a short phrase.

Linda: Right, well, my name’s Linda Goodyear and I’d like briefly to tell you why I think you should choose me as your rep. Um, these are the things I would try to do something about, try to improve, or, I mean, do.

So, er, I think we all know, the careers advice service needs, er, a bit of improvement. So I’d work to improve that. Especially, we need more practical advice about getting work experience, not in this country I mean, overseas. And another thing I think we should press for, is to have close links with businesses and companies where we can actually go on visits. I think we should try to get around, I mean not even just locally, but all over the Midlands, so we actually see a greater variety of ways of doing things rather than just hearing about them.

Then, um, the next thing I think is important is something I’m quite, er, involved with, myself. That’s voluntary work with the homeless. I’d like to get more people here in the college involved, either directly, or I hope, with raising money.

And, er, last of all, er, I’d like to push the college authorities really hard for some new furniture for the student common room.

Thank you very much. Please vote for me.

Darren: Hi, everybody. Uh, I expect you may know, my name’s Darren Whiting. Um, I’d really like to be your student rep. This year, and well, here’s what I’d try and do for you, for us. Um, first, I’d take on the canteen and try to stop them putting up the price of hot meals, as they’ve said they will. Then, the next thing is, um, well, I’d like to organise a book exchange throughout the whole college, um, like already exists, um, in the maths department, to save money on expensive textbooks that we all have to have, but don’t need for the whole course. Another thing we badly need in this college is a student advice centre. We need a place run by students for students, where people can drop in and get advice about any sort of problems, academic or welfare or whatever. We also need to take on the college authorities on the subject of accommodation for students who need it. I mean, the situation at the moment is crazy, with no proper system for deciding who gets accommodation, or why. I want to change that. And lastly, I want to get in more speakers, from all political backgrounds, and er, from industry and so on, to help people get more aware of, you know, what’s going on in the world today. Because we’ll all be out there soon, like it or not. Please vote for me. Thanks for listening.

 

Keys:

Par I

1-5  ACBAB   6-10  ABCBA  11-15 BBCAC 16-20  CBBAC

21. careers    

22. overseas / in other countries / abroad          

23. visit companies (and) / businesses        

24. homeless   

25. (student) common room    

26. hot meals    

27. (a) book exchange (throughout the college)    

28. (a student) advice centre    

29. accommodation  

30. speakers

Part II

31-35  CADBC  36-40  DABBA  41-45  BCBAD

Part III

46. attractive 47. tourists  48. achievement  49. an 50. because 51. unclear 52. traditional  53. success 54. when 55. appearance  

Part III

56. Solar Tree 57. 12-20 volts 58. indicate 59. energy efficient 60. ?褷160  61. Y 62. N 63. NG 64. an aeroplane crash  65. Press and telivision / The mass-media  66. He felt nervous. 67. Three. 68. Menial labouring jobs.  69. Prison. 70. At a builder’s merchants.  71. preserved  72. drug-resistant  73. toxic  74. unsuccessful  75. significant

Part V

76. 心理学家们试图回答这种问题的一种方式是研究双胞胎：同卵双生（出自于同一个受精卵，所以具有同样的基因）和异卵双生（来自于不同的受精卵，所以具有一半的相同基因）。

77. 为了明确知道什么决定双胞胎的不同，他们对同卵双生的两种双胞胎进行了比较，一种是在一起长大的，另一种是一出生就分开在不同家庭长大的。

78. 该项目的研究人员也试图验证这样一个理论，　我们每个人都根据自己的基因和特有的成长经历形成了一套选择伴侣的标准。

79. 研究结果表明，基因和环境对于未来配偶的选择都不起很大的作用。

80. 他们发现，随着年龄的增长，同卵双胞胎外貌的相似程度越来越小，而类似于数学计算等方面能力的相似程度增强了。

81. Traditional Japanese fine art may be the only exception, but it has to be remembered that it has been heavily influenced by the Chinese culture.

82. They are seemed not only as tools for drawing pictures, but also as a collective symbol of artistic pursuit.

83. The country’s best painters were grouped in the imperial academy of paintings, where they were ranked the same way as official according to their artistic accomplishments.

84. They like to give meaning to the objects they paint.

85. It doesn’t take a lot of training to paint landscapes, which all depends on the painter’s personality and ability.

Part VI

86. DOUGHNUT, FRUITCAKE.

87. ■

In the top square, each letter is separated from the one that precedes it first by one letter, then 2, then 1, then 2, then 1, then 2. Thus: A(b) C(de) F(g) H(ij)K(l)M(no)P. In the bottom square, the sequence is: Y(1st letter before Z); W(2nd letter before Y); T(3rd letter before W); P(4th letter before T); K(5th letter before P); E(6th letter before K).  88. 3. Opposite segments total 30.  89. $20. The farmer ended up with $90. The total he had was: $60 + $10 (from his wife) = $70. $90 - $70 = $20 (profit).

90. Goal. The word in brackets is obtained in this way: 1st letter is the 3rd letter of the word to the left; 2nd letter is the 2nd letter of the word to the right; 3rd letter is the 4th letter of the word to the right; 4th letter is the 1st letter of the word to the left.